South African wine over £10 ‘fantastic’

Attendees of an event in London today agreed that South African wine over £10 can compete on price and quality with equivalents from classic European wine regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Following a blind tasting of top-end labels from South Africa compared with a handful of corresponding wines from elsewhere in the world, the tasters confirmed that the Cape offers quality and value for money at prices above £10.

The tasting and discussion was organised jointly by the drinks business and Rollo Gabb, who heads the Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa (PIWOSA), which was founded in October 2012 to group together 15 producers to jointly promote South African wine over £10.

Commenting after the wine sampling exercise, James Griswood, wine buyer for South Africa at Tesco expressed his confidence in the quality of wines from the Cape at higher price points.

“My own perspective is that South Africa makes fantastic wine over £10,” he said, adding, “there are a lot of exciting wines that customers buying wine at that price would be more than happy with.”

However, he warned that “shoppers buying South Africa over £10 are very specific,” having highlighted that just 3.8% of wine volumes in UK retail are sold over that price point.

Continuing he explained that Tesco customers tend to buy from more classic wine regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy at higher prices, and consequently, South Africa needed to further promote its premium wine credentials.

“There is definitely work to be done to persuade consumers that South Africa can produce brilliant wines over £10,” he said.

The event drew the following panel of respected personalities from the UK wine trade and press: